Introduction to The Birth of Venus
The Birth of Venus was the representative work of Botticelli, was plotted as a distant brother ruler of Florence by Medici. The painting showed the goddess Venus floating in the Aegean Sea and Aeolus and flora on the left and right.
The Birth Of Venus
The composition was simple and the painting took the naked goddess Venus as the center. The body and the clothing lines of characters in the painting were very excellent and characters and natural background achieved the subtle harmony. Venus was so completely indifferent to the feelings of shyness and resentment in the treatment of all. Her future life was not full of optimism, but felt the regret and confusion, which was also the world's contradicted outlook reaction of Botticelli. Although the image of Venus in painting imitated the classical Greek statue, the style was innovative and emphasized the beauty and purity, but also had the subtle beauty. It also indicated that the beauty needed to polish shell-like.
The birth of Venus was made for decoration of Lorenzo Medici's villa in 1485. Reportedly, the painter was enlightened by Polly Zianno's long poem Gio Starner which described the goddess Venus was born in the Aegean Sea and Aeolus took her to the shore, and God of spring quickly ushered in from the right, trying to give her cotton woven by the stars in the sky. The falling flowers strengthened this kind of poetic mood. When the painter treated this scene, he abandoned some noisy descriptions in the original poetry and arranged the goddess in a very quiet place. The background was calm sew with micro-blue waves. Venus gloomily stood at the shell which was a symbol of her birth source. Her body seemed to be delicate and lack the warm response to meet the feminine and the world. It told the viewers the goddess came to the earth and seemed to be full of melancholy for her future instead of confidence. To a certain extent, the image of Venus reflected the artist's panic and anxiety for her real time during this period. The imaged Venus by the ancient Greeks was born from the sea, which was a girl after birth.
Appreciation to The Birth of Venus
The plot and the image shaping in the painting were in accordance with Medici's palace poet Polizzi Arno's poem. As we all know, Venus is the ancient Afu Luo Pasarela in the Greek mythology, which was the goddess of love and beauty. According to Greek mythology, Venus gave birth from the foam of the sea when Cronus throw his father's body into the sea. In the second half of 15th century, Florence School of painting and art master Botticelli's The Birth of Venus performed the birth scene of the goddess of love and beauty:
The poem described Venus was born in the Aegean Sea. Aeolus blew her to the quiet and cool shore, and the God of spring Lorna ushered in her with the cotton woven by stars. Her background was the vast blue sky. The Aeolus Ferry slowly put her to the shore with the blowing breeze; the pink and white roses fell around her and the fruit tree god Pomona already prepared the red green clothes for her; a calm green sea and blue sky rendered this beautiful and peaceful atmosphere, a beautiful and creative beautiful life was born! This image told the viewer that the goddess was full of suffering with melancholy on the earth. This state of mind was the painter's attitude facing the reality.
The Birth of Venus had another layer of meaning. A new Platon doctrine philosophical movement was very popular in Florence at that time, thinking the beauty was impossible to perfect gradually or arise from the non-beauty. The beauty could be only completed itself, which could not be comparable. It's actually said: the beauty was the eternal neither dying nor being born. With the image of Venus the artist explained the aesthetic views, because Venus was born a perfect girl, neither childhood nor aging, maintaining the beautiful youth. Venus's shape was obviously influenced by the image of Venus in the ancient Greece sculptures and showed imitation traces in the postures and gestures for Kabituoli Venus, but lacked the bodybuilding and elegance of the classical statues. This kind of modeling and emotion actually became Botticelli's unique artistic style.
Evaluation of The Birth of Venus
The Birth of Venus was a masterpiece of the Renaissance painter Botticelli. Under the strict control of the Middle Ages, the beautiful goddess of beauty and love—Venus in the Greek and Roman myth was considered as "pagan banshee" and was burned. By the Renaissance, in order to imprison the breaks of thoughts, Italian citizens who yearned for the classical culture of thought this goddess rising from the sea was a new era of messenger - she brought the beauty to the world.
The Birth of Venus seemed to be the embodiment of such a "sense of the times": the naked Venus was like a pearl standing from the shell or rising from the sea. In the 19th century, the British famous esthetician Ruskin said, "Botticelli's teacher Philippe Ripper was most adept at painting the lily. But for painting the rose, his students were much better." In the painting, Botticelli also painted many roses which circled Venus's slim and soft posture in the blowing breeze. The human body filled with youthful life, and beautiful flowers was the image as a challenge to the religious asceticism at that time. Venus's slight sadness in her face seemed to indicate her love that could not be sensed, spiritual and ideal. Therefore, the birth did not seem to bring the joy, but a tragedy. The background of the painting was a stretch of boundless sea water, fertile land and forests. Venus's pace did not seem to bear the weight and behave very elegant as if in the melody with the driving force. As the embodiment of the beauty and love, Venus had a serious meaning.
In addition, the Venus's gesture was apparently referred to classical statuary style to depict, just putting two hands changed for a position. But under the pen of Botticelli, Venus had its special charm. The most elegant naked body considered by the art history was not as same as the gorgeous and vital women admired by some later Venice painters, but with a kind of innocent childishness.
